Fair Projects

The Eandem Vita

This is a short story I wrote for fair.

My name is Vita Luciana Faber Ferrarius, and I have something very important to tell the world. In order to fully explain, I must tell you my story, and that means I must tell you Casia's story.

It started before I was born. The small village I grew up in was once a prospering city. It had a grand market place, and it was surrounded by farms with some of the richest soil ever. Some of the residents were so rich they owned dozens of homes all designed to provide the utmost comfort. It was the heart of the nation.
On a small dairy farm a girl named Casia was born. As she grew her parents noticed she would often talk to the cattle, squirrels, birds, any animal that she would come by she would speak to it like a human. They thought nothing of it, but did sometimes worry. One day her mother grew ill. Casia tried to treat her and help her, but in a span of weeks, Casia's mother passed away. Casia and her father tried to keep the farm going, but it would never be the same. For five long years they barely scraped by. Then, they started getting much greater amounts of gold and could almost buy a bigger farm.

One day Casia woke up and her father was gone. She searched around the house and couldn't find him. She went outside and saw many footprints in the dirt. Also some strange skid marks like someone was dragged. She followed them to the city and arrived just in time to witness the executioner raise his axe and her father's head roll to the ground. She ran off, and the people assume she perished in the forest.

Six years later on exactly the day Casia's father died, the livestock started disappearing. Everyday they lost more animals. Family pets and family resources. Then things started disappearing. Mostly food. A year later, all the animals were gone, and the people that used to be very rich were now scraping by. They could not leave the village because the king had thought if they left, a horrible curse would come with them.

That was when the animals came back. At first, the people were happy to see the lost animals return. Then, they began realizing how weird that the occurrence was. When the animals reached the city, they started trampling everything. The normal animals attacked their former owners, and the city was in ruins. Then, the villagers saw her. Casia was a young woman now, but the people recognized her. She was talking to the animals, giving them orders. The townsfolk's fury covered up their fear. They tied Casia up, calling her the Eandem Chao, Nature's Chaos, and burned her. The animals returned to normal, and the people and animals rebuilt the town. They forgot sweet Casia but remembered the wicked Eandem Chao.

Years later, the town had been rebuilt. It was now the tiny village where I was born. I grew up with Ma and Pa, and had a best friend named Adrian. My family and I raised Australian Shepherds, and sold them to ranchers as herding dogs. Pa told me the story of Eandem Chao when I was seven. It terrified me because I already knew I had the same power as her. I hid my ability, and nobody but Adrian knew. I learned to be less afraid of my power. After all, squirrels have a great sense of humor.

One day, Adrian and I had gone exploring in the woods like we often did. We both loved going into the woods and seeing if we could scare each other.  Adrian jumped out of the bushes in front of me. I gasped. When I realized it was him I punched him in the arm.

"Idiot." I mumbled.

"What was that?" Adrian said smirking.

"Oh just me pointing out the obvious." I replied.

"Which is?" He asked.

"Behind you." I said.

"Wha-" As he turned around I tackled him to the ground. He didn't seem to register what happened until he hit the ground.

"Oof." He said, glaring at me.

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A familiar voice barked. I whipped my head around. Behind me was Smudge, my first dog.